Ramblings on the word 'hater' and it's connection to conspicuous consumption
I think the word 'hater', at least in colloquial use, has seen a large shift in connotation and a dilution of meaning. There was a time, confirmed by the most popular definition of Hater on urbandictionary - which at the time of writing is the one by 'Metallurgy' - when the word was levied at people who disliked, put down, or talked excessively negatively about someone or something without any clear or well-developed critique of the subject. This was the definition and usage I was familiar with around my high school years, in the mid-2010's.
I grew into a terminally online adult, so I know that now the word is often levied to silence criticism or used as a dismissal of criticism. Enough think pieces and video essays have been written about the rise of stan culture, and I think this shift in use of the word 'hater' can trivially be tied to stan cutlure. I probably don't need to convince you that 'stanning' has become a bit of an annoying phenomenon on the internet. I mean, some 'stans' even send out death threats to the people who criticize their faves, and so many stans call any critic a 'hater' that it's certainly contributed to eroding the insulting bite the term once held.
Now you might not have read my 'about' section on this site, so I should let you know that 'hater' is a label I often place on myself. When I call myself a hater, I use the term as a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to the new use of the term. But I also think that in some ways I use the word to take the criticism-silencing power away from it. If I show that calling me a hater won't get me to stop criticizing that one show, then maybe in the long term we can all analyze, discuss, and critique it together. That can be fun, and that's what I want most of all back from my discussions about media on the broader internet. I'm not the only one who thinks so, which is why a lot of people have also started taking on the 'hater' mantle willingly.
I'm not here to pretend I have a thoroughly-researched, anthropologist's answer to the question of "Why has 'hater' undergone this change in usage and meaning?", but I have a theory. It starts with commodity consumption as identity. What do I mean by this? In our late-stage capitalistic world people have attached meaning to the brands, products, services, and even media they consume. Name it, there's a 'fandom' for it. A community centered around the appreciation, discussion, and most of all ownership, acquisition, or intake of that certain thing. On the surface, there's absolutely nothing wrong with discussing and expressing satisfaction with something that has brought you joy, made you think, or otherwise engaged your emotions. Humans have been enamoured with objects since our species began.
However, something I feel is unique to the weirdly permanently-connected, fast-paced age we live in is that we now attach identity to these things. Few are the folks who 'own an iPhone' or 'own a Samsung Phone'; they are 'iPhone guys', 'iPhone girlies', or 'Android people'. Likewise, it is no longer sufficient to buy and build an amazing mechanical keyboard to use with your computer, you have to post about it to r/mechanicalkeyboards, and then gasp at the realization that the top users there don't have just the one keyboard. They like this thing so much more than you, so much harder than you that they have an entire wall of keyboards, to the point where they don't know which to use each day. Joining discussions online, you realize people don't treat the purchase of mechanical keyboards as strictly consumption of a good. It's a hobby now; they call it as much. Hell, the word 'hobby' is now used to describe even Gambling On Counter Strike Lootboxes.
In these spaces, there is social capital that comes with being the most into it. The biggest fan often runs the group, is a founding member, or knows the most due to experience. But in communities where the subject of appreciation is a good, an object for sale? The social capital can be bought with regular old money capital. Seniority, clout, trust can all be purchased indirectly. This is part of what makes these communities explode and have appeal, as well. Why spend weeks, months, or years learning a new skill to exchange my learnings with others, when I can just buy the latest and greatest thing to show off? Why go through the insane effort of ensuring all my plastics are cleaned and dried before driving them to a recycling center, when I can get just as much environmentalist cred by buying 15 different tote bags? For my MMO folks: this is pay-for-progression, but in real life.
The above examples are highly specific but I'm sure you can think of something you encounter in your corners of the internet that is analogous. Some product line that has become more than just that. Some consumer behavior that is not spoken of as such or has become the substitute for a tangible lifestyle change. In a weird way, the viral Tiktok from a while ago about "girl hobbies" such as "grabbing a coffee and pastry as a ‘lil treat'" and shopping, is another moment symptomatic of this phenomenon - albeit with much different implications about the infantilization of women.
In some ways, consumption as a means of gaining social capital is not that new. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen wrote at length about how aristocrats and other moneyed classes like business owners, participated in conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous consumption is the practice of consuming goods/services at greater quantities, costs, or qualities than necessary, and using this "public display of discretionary income is an economic means of either attaining or of maintaining a given social status".
The book was written in 1899, so you can tell this isn't a new phenomenon. In recent years, some studies have even found links between conspicuous consumption and economic inequality. Here is a very interesting one I invite you to read: Borrowing to Keep Up (with the Joneses) [2020]. I believe that conspicuous consumption is a key component to consumption becoming so strongly tied to identity, and the way in which attaching oneself to this identity can afford social capital.
This brings me back to the transformation of 'hater'. As people began attaching their identities to the products they bought or the media they were fans of, any critique of someone/something you stanned was no longer just someone else's analysis or opinion, it was an attack on you. Because the things you like, the things that make you who you are cannot be bad, cannot even be average. Set aside the fact that someone calling your favorite show 'mid' was accusing you of poor taste - which your aristocratic sensibilities should be appalled by! - that person was now calling a part of you 'mid'. So being a stan now required a show of devotion, and was equally self-preservation. 'You're just a hater' became the natural defense.
This style of dismissal worked for a long time. Being called a hater 15 years ago could make one wonder: "Was I really just being overly negative? Was my opinion not formed correctly and I was bullheadedly refusing to see any merit in what I was critiquing? Am I just being a contrarian? Maybe I should chill out." The one now-infamous 'just let people enjoy things' webcomic that every millennial turned into a mug, shitty wood block print, or motto was also an effective call to 'please shut up and let me believe Marvel is the greatest cinema to grace my screen'.
I'm here as a self-aggrandized and self-important ambassador for haters everywhere to tell you that you will probably have a much richer and fulfilling experience with media when you allow yourself to separate your identity from your enjoyment and consumption of it. This doesn't mean you need to stop being a fan. You can become a critical enjoyer, a critical consumer. Being able to clearly explain why you like or dislike something is a skill that can be developed, and can greatly enhance your enjoyment of media. It can also lead you to find and learn about the histories, traditions, and influences of your favorite things, deepening your connection with them. You might find that even if you form harsh criticisms of something you used to love, you will discover similar things that expand and improve the portions you loved about it. You will have discovered the best version of the thing you like!
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kagumail.uselessly535@passinbox.com
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